Shoes, seafood and screaming fans: London’s Sex and the City premiere

Amid puzzlement as to why London and not New York should have been chosen for the world premiere of Sex and the City: The Movie - Manhattan must wait another two weeks for its Radio City premiere - London did its best on Monday night to ensure that it will be a hard act to follow. Hundreds of adoring women fans of the long-running TV series crowded Leicester Square, screaming the names of their favourite characters as each of the four stars arrived for the screening. Some presented shoe-boxes for the actresses to autograph.

Both Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall were dressed by London designers - 'Carrie' in a green prom-style dress by Alexander McQueen and headgear by Philip Treacy, while 'Samantha' wore an off-the-shoulder swirling red dress by Vivienne Westwood. At the after-party at Old Billingsgate near the Tower of London, nearly 1,000 guests, including Gary Lineker and his girlfriend Danielle Bux, the Sugababes, Kimberley Stewart and various WAGs, were greeted by a tsunami of seafood and champagne and entertained by half-naked male dancers.

Each of the four actresses had her own meet-and-greet area of the lavishly decorated old fish market, adding to the impression that the four stars are not close, despite the insistence of Kristin Davis ('Charlotte') in a red-carpet interview that there has been no rift between them.

New Line, the studio behind the film, is now desperately relying on the London audience not to spill the beans about the plot during the two weeks before the film opens in Britain and the States. Parker herself has admitted that after beginning the film happily ensconced with Mr Big (played once again by Chris Noth) she suffers an "earth-shattering" loss. But writer-director Michael Patrick King had to beg the audience to "brag but not blog" about what happens next.

The First Post can report that the sex and shopping quotient is as high as ever and that while the men among the audience (a minority) found the film version long at two hours plus, the women, on the whole, loved it. A sequel is likely if the the movie goes down well.